Regional specificity in the real‐time development of phasic dopamine transmission patterns during acquisition of a cue–cocaine association in rats
Open Access
- 16 November 2009
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in European Journal of Neuroscience
- Vol. 30 (10), 1889-1899
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2009.07027.x
Abstract
Drug seeking is significantly regulated by drug‐associated cues and associative learning between environmental cues and cocaine reward is mediated by dopamine transmission within the nucleus accumbens (NAc). However, dopamine transmission during early acquisition of a cue–cocaine association has never been assessed because of the technical difficulties associated with resolving cue‐evoked and cocaine‐evoked dopamine release within the same conditioning trial. Here, we used fast‐scan cyclic voltammetry to measure sub‐second fluctuations in dopamine concentration within the NAc core and shell during the initial acquisition of a cue–cocaine Pavlovian association. Within the NAc core, cue‐evoked dopamine release developed during conditioning. However, within the NAc shell, the predictive cue appeared to cause an unconditioned decrease in dopamine concentration. The pharmacological effects of cocaine also differed between sub‐regions, as cocaine increased phasic dopamine release events within the NAc shell but not the core. Thus, real‐time measurements not only revealed the initial development of a conditioned neurochemical response but also demonstrated differential phasic dopamine transmission patterns across NAc sub‐regions during the acquisition of a cue–cocaine association.Keywords
This publication has 90 references indexed in Scilit:
- Two types of dopamine neuron distinctly convey positive and negative motivational signalsNature, 2009
- Phasic excitation of dopamine neurons in ventral VTA by noxious stimuliProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- Real-time chemical responses in the nucleus accumbens differentiate rewarding and aversive stimuliNature Neuroscience, 2008
- Reward-Predictive Cues Enhance Excitatory Synaptic Strength onto Midbrain Dopamine NeuronsScience, 2008
- Dynamic changes in accumbens dopamine correlate with learning during intracranial self-stimulationProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2008
- Cocaine Serves as a Peripheral Interoceptive Conditioned Stimulus for Central Glutamate and Dopamine ReleasePLOS ONE, 2008
- The incentive sensitization theory of addiction: some current issuesPhilosophical Transactions Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 2008
- Dual Role of Medial A10 Dopamine Neurons in Affective EncodingNeuropsychopharmacology, 2008
- Dopamine reward circuitry: Two projection systems from the ventral midbrain to the nucleus accumbens–olfactory tubercle complexBrain Research Reviews, 2007
- The ventral tegmental area revisited: is there an electrophysiological marker for dopaminergic neurons?The Journal of Physiology, 2006